MicroSat Launcher, Block II vehicle
Test Flight, July 29, 2000

This mission, the second flight of the MicroSat
Launcher series, was a great success. The ML class rocket has flow
twice since this mission, once for the opening of the West Texas Spaceport and
once for the Air Force.

Images can be clicked on to see a larger image.
photos by Jennifer
Kirkpatrick

The launch rail that holds the rocket can swing in all direction.
This gimbal system will be using when the ML is launched from a high altitude
platform. The gimbal keeps the rocket pointed up regardless of the platforms
attitude.

This test flight utilized a 10,000 newton/second rocket motor. The
rocket flew to 16,200 feet. As part of the test, the rocket carried the full
CATS prize payload (2 kgs). The next ML flight will use the full 50,000
newton/second motor.

This flight had three major goals. The first was test the all
carbon airframe, could it take the load? The second was to see if the rocket would
launch straight out of a free hanging gimbal system. The third was a shakedown of
the full electronics suite in the ML configuration. All three were met
superbly.